Re: Is there a formula relating temperature and initial reaction rate of enzyme

hi Freddie,

There certainly is a relationship between enzyme reaction rate and temperature. However, it's not really a simple linear or "straight line" relationship. You will need to do your experiment and plot the graph to see what I mean.

I think you are also a little confused about how to interpret your experiment. You don't want to apply an already-known formula to your graph to understand it. The whole point of plotting the graph is to see what its shape is telling you about the relationship between temperature and activity. If you already knew a formula and understood what the gradient means, there would be no point in doing the experiment!

Here's what I suggest.

1. First, forget about everything except your experiment. Do the experiment - measure the rates carefully at a range of temperatures, making sure all other conditions (enzyme concentration, pH and so on) are the same.
2. Plot the initial rate versus temperature - remember which variable should go on which axis.
3. Study your graph. Try to describe it just using plain English words. For instance: "the rate was low below 10 degrees C, then it increased between 20 and 40 degrees C, then decreased above 60 degrees C".
4. Finally, consider what you know about enzymes and see how that fits with your observations. The Wikipedia enzyme entry might be a good place to start. Try web searches using phrases to get more information, e.g.: "enzyme kinetics", "catalase optimum temperature" and so on.